Our Opinion: BMV makes weak case for mandate

Times Reporter

Writer

Posted Jan. 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 31, 2013 at 10:13 PM

Posted Jan. 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 31, 2013 at 10:13 PM

Compared to paying $3.50 a gallon for gas, spending $10 every seven years for license plates would be just an irritation — like being bitten by a mosquito while you’re down with the flu. But Ohioans have a right to be irritated about the Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ proposal to make them buy new plates every seven years.

BMV hasn’t offered a strong enough justification for the change, which it wants the Legislature to approve. Nor is the agency trying to change a state law that contributes to what it says is the problem.

Thomas Charles, director of the Department of Public Safety, has written to Gov. John Kasich to ask that the next two-year budget include the mandate, along with a recall of all bicentennial and gold-tinted plates. BMV would charge drivers $10 for each set of plates they have to replace on the seven-year schedule.

And that’s about all BMV will confirm. According to The Plain Dealer, officials won’t say how much they’d charge owners of the recalled plates or how they would use the money the agency collects.

Charles said law enforcement agencies are concerned about the readability of older plates. But drivers already are required to replace plates that fade, rust or are damaged. And the Ohio Highway Patrol apparently won’t confirm Charles’ statement about readability. “Lt. Anne Ralston of the State Highway Patrol, which falls under the Department of Public Safety, said she could not say whether law enforcement had raised any concerns about faded or rusty plates,” The Plain Dealer reported.

If BMV wants to look for a solution to whatever readability problem does exist, here’s where to start: Ask legislators to change the state law that requires plates to be made of galvanized steel. It can rust. Aluminum doesn’t.

Ohio has more than 2 million licensed drivers. While $10 every seven years won’t break them,

$20 million every seven years will be a good chunk of change for the state. We haven’t heard a good enough reason yet for the BMV to collect that kind of money.